Russia is holding military maneuvers again

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Russian snipers at military training in the Rostov region

Photo: SERGEY PIVOVAROV / REUTERS

After crisis talks between Russia and Western countries, the Russian military has held new maneuvers.

The Defense Ministry announced on Friday in the capital Moscow that there had been an unannounced review of combat readiness in the East Military District.

The ministry released a video showing convoys of military vehicles and tanks being loaded onto railroad cars.

Soldiers were taken to remote training areas.

A focus was also on the infrastructure "to ensure the transport of troops within a certain time," it said.

Just this week, the United States accused Russia of not having shown any efforts to ease the tension in the Ukraine conflict.

Russia continues to have around 100,000 soldiers deployed on the border with Ukraine, US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith told US broadcaster CNN.

Already on Wednesday, more than 10,000 soldiers began exercises at more than 20 training areas in southern Russia. On the same day, representatives of the 30 NATO countries and Russia held talks for the first time in two and a half years - about the Ukraine conflict and security guarantees that Moscow is demanding from the transatlantic military alliance. There was also a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday. A high-level meeting of representatives of Russia and the United States was held in Geneva on Monday.

At the meeting, the differences between Russia and the military alliance became clear.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said these would be difficult to bridge.

"It wasn't an easy discussion." In the absence of rapprochement, "there is still a real risk of an armed conflict in Europe," said Stoltenberg.

"Russia is the aggressor."

muk/dpa